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DONALD LAVERNE KATZ
1907-1989
SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY
PREPARED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF
THE NAE MEMBERSHIP OFFICE
D R. DONALD L. KATZ, the A. H. White Distinguished
University Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, The
University of Michigan, died on May 29, 1989. In areas of
reservoir engineering such as phase behavior, vapor-liquid
equilibrium, retrograde condensation in gas condensate
systems, solid gas hydrate formations from water-gas during
flow, and arctic gas hydrate formation, Dr. Katz was beyond
question the world leader.
He was born near Jackson, Michigan, on August I, 1907,
ant! attended the University of Michigan, where he received
the B.S. (1931), M.S. (1932), and Ph.D. (1933) in chemical
engineering. During his academic program, he was elected
to five honorary fraternities, including Tau Beta Pi and Phi
Kappa Phi, and held the Geme] and Donovan undergraduate
scholarships, in succession.
His first professional affiliation was with the Phillips Pe-
troleum Company in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The three
years spent with Phillips in initiating a production research
program set the pattern for his principal lifelong research
interests: phase behavior of hydrocarbon systems and res-
ervoir engineering. His publications, numbering 294, are
concentrated in the petroleum field, but have included ad-
ditional topics such as heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and
171
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172
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
the use of computers in engineering education. He is the
author, together with former students, of nine books the
most significant, Handbook of Natural Gas Engineering (1959),
was written with six former students. His most recently
published book, Natural Gas Engineering, Production and
Storage, with Robert L. Lee, was published by McGraw Hill
in January ~ 990.
He returned to the Chemical Engineering Department
of the University of Michigan in 1936, rose rapidly through
the faculty ranks to professor, en cl was chairman of the
department from 1951 to 1962. Forty-five doctoral students
completed their theses under his supervision. Beginning
in 1959 he directed two major national studies on the use
of computers in engineering and engineering design education,
with support from the Ford Foundation and the National
Science Foundation. These projects involved participation
of some two hundred engineering faculty members from
more than fifty engineering schools. The reports, recom-
mendations, and literature produced have had a national
and international impact on engineering education.
Professor Katz travelled widely, contributing to improve-
ment of graduate chemical engineering programs with seminars
and workshops, particularly in the Far East, India, and Brazil
(he spent a semester at the University of Brazil assisting in
the inauguration of a new graduate program in 1963~. He
was awarded the University of Michigan's Distinguished Faculty
Achievement Award in 1964 and was named the Alfred H.
White Distinguished University Professor of Chemical Engi-
neering in 1966. After his retirement in 1977, he remained
very active as a consultant, lecturer, author, and member
or leacler of public service committees.
Throughout his career, Dr. Katz was a contributing member
of many professional and technical societies. Dates of first
membership and recognitions for his service and technical
contributions are American Chemical Society (1932), E. V.
Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
~ ~ 9 75 ); American Gas Association ~ ~ 940 ), Gas Industry Re-
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DONALD LAVERNE KATZ
173
search Award (1977~; American Institute of Chemical Engineers
(1937), fellow, served on ten committees, president (1959),
Founders Award (1964), Warren K. Lewis Award (1967),
William H. Walker Award (1968), named one of twenty-
nine eminent chemical engineers ~ ~ 983~; Society of Petro-
leum Engineers Inc. (SPE) of the American Institute of
Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) (1936),
served on six committees, SPE awards: one of the SPE
Distinguished Lecturers (1962), John Franklin CarI] Award
(1964), one of first group of one hundred SPE Distinguished
Members ~1984~; AIME awards: Mineral Industry Education
Award (1970), Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal (19791; American
Association for Advancement of Science (1941), fellow;
American Society for Engineering Education (1944), life
member; American Association of Petroleum Geologists (197
1988), associate member; American Society of Mechanical
Engineers ( 1945), life member; American Nuclear Society
(1956), fellow; National Society of Professional Engineers
(1953), life member; and National Academy of Engineering
(NAE) (1968~. He also received the HanIon Award (1950)
from the Gas Processors Association, and the very special
award the National Medal of Science- in 1983, presented
to him by President Reagan.
Dr. Katz was among a handful of scientific pioneers who
created a new engineering discipline, petroleum reservoir
engineering. Besides his research publications, he did in-
termittent consulting in of! production; but mainly he devoted
his innovations to gas production and storage technology.
He assisted the management of three large midwestern
companies to develop large underground gas storage systems
during the period of 1950 to 1975. The ability to predict
the storage capacity and delivery rates from reservoirs has
contributed significantly to the efficient management of
the nation's gas delivery system. By use of pressures above
discovery pressures a practice studied and recommended
by Dr. Katz the cost of gas storage has been significantly
reduced, producing cost savings for both management and
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174
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
user. Dr. Katz was very active as a consulting engineer
during the past forty years, having served more than one
hundred companies and governmental agencies.
In the field of public service, he served on fourteen com-
mittees, mostly through the National Academy of Sciences
(NAS), the National Academy of Engineering, and the Na-
tional Research Council (NRC). He was chairman of the
NRC Committee on Hazardous Materials, Advisory to the
U.S. Coast Guard, from 1964 to 1972. He organized the
group that prepared many reports covering such topics as
a classification system for the hazards involved in shipping
a group of 160 chemicals; pressure relief valves for pressure
vessels on barges with fires aboard; and liquefied natural
gas (LNG) safety and the nature of the ENG water-superheat-
limit-flameless-explosion. At the conclusion of his eight
years of service on this committee, Dr. Katz was presented
with the Distinguished Public Service Award by the U.S.
Coast Guard. He was also chairman in 197~1975 of the
NRC Review Committee on Air Quality and Power Plant
Emissions. This committee was organized at the request of
Senator Muskie's subcommittee, under Senator Ranclolph's
Public Works Committee. A thorough study on acid rain
and health was clocumented. The committee's report rec-
ommended stack gas scrubbing for new high-suiphur coal
plants and some retrofits. Testimony was given by Dr. Katz
to the subcommittee, with Senator Randolph presiding.
As a part of his service to the engineering profession, he
gave many special lectures at universities in the United States
and in foreign countries, invited lectures for professional
societies and companies, and continued to give his annual
one-week course on gas storage until 1987. In recognition
of his many research contributions, the College of Engineering
of the University of Michigan established the Donald L.
Katz Lectureship in Chemical Engineering in 1971. This
lectureship is awarded annually to distinguished faculty re-
searchers from other universities; the 20th Katz lectures
were given in Ann Arbor in April 1990. In addition, the
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D O NALD LAVE RN E KAT Z
175
Gas Processors Association honored Professor Katz by cre-
ating the new Donald L. Katz award in 1985.
In his home community of Ann Arbor, Michigan, he served
from 1948 to 1957 on the Board of Education, including
three years as president; several new public school buildings
were built during his presidency. In 1944 1945 he was president
of the Ann Arbor Council of Churches, and served in many
positions including chairman of the Official Board and lay
leader of the First United Methodist Church.
Professor Katz had a lifelong interest in history. After
his retirement, he wrote a monograph on the early history
of farm and community life in the Waterloo township in
Jackson County, Michigan, for which he received a citation
from the Michigan Historical Society. He also wrote several
family histories that required significant study of European
village archives. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth, five
children, ten grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
processors association
